Door lifting and positioning means

ABSTRACT

Door lifting and positioning means for use in mounting laterally movable doors of the type usually suspended from top roller or trolley assemblies operating in an overhead track.

United States Patent [1 1 Genson [451 Sept. 16, 1975 all 3,782,771 1/1974 Moore 214/1 H Primary Examiner-Robert J. Spar Assistant ExaminerGeorge F. Abraham Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson l 5 7 1 ABSTRACT Door lifting and positioning means for use in mounting laterally movable doors of the type usually suspended from top roller or trolley assemblies operating in an overhead track.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures IIW a DOOR LIFTING AND POSITIONING MEANS SUMMARY OF THE lNVl-ZN'I'ION As is well known, many buildings for housing farm equipment, tractors and heavy duty equipment, garages, and repair shops, inter alis, have door openings that frequently are considerably large both as to height and width. Usually, such door openings have been closed by one or a pair of doors suspended from tiolleys riding in an overhead track. which track has frequently been in the form of a tubular element. closed at the top, and having a slot open along the bottom thereof, through which the connections from the trolleys to the top of the door or doors extends. Difficulty has been heretofore experienced in elevating such heavy doors and then moving them laterally so as to thread the trolleys into the permanent track mounted upon the building over the door opening.

The instant invention reduces that difficulty of ele vating and positioning a door in the fixed track to a considerable amount and also materially lessens the time necessary in order to position a door.

The present invention accomplishes these advantages in the provision of a door hanger substantially of the shape of the permanent track fixedly mounted over the opening in the building and preferably of the same overall size as the fixed track.

The trolley assemblies may ride within the hanger, and there is a slot in the bottom of the hanger for the connection between the trolley assemblies and the top of the door. This door hanger may be threaded over the trolley assemblies when the door is in a substantially prone position or the top of the door propped up slightly to facilitate the threading of the hanger. Stop pins of a substantially U shape are provided to be uti lized through holes in the hanger at spaced intervals to accommodate various width doors, by placing one leg of the U in one hole and the other leg of the U in the trolley assembly so that the door cannot move relatively to the hanger. Eyes are welded, each equal distance from its adjacent door end as the other to which a lifting element, such as a cable, may be permanently attached for the useful life of the cable. The cable may then be raised by a tractor boom until it picks up the hanger carrying the door, and then moves laterally until the hanger has one end abutting the fixed track. Guide means are provided on the hanger to engage the fixed track, maintain the door from sagging or otherwise moving from a horizontal position, and the door may then be pushed into the track in useful position. Li'sually, a fixed track is provided with a stop means at the outer end thereof to prevent opening the door to such an extent that a trolley assembly comes out of the track, and such stop means may be bent out of position or removed. depending upon their character. until the door is slid into the track and the hanger removed The simplified means embodied in the present invention en ables a door to be hung properly in its fixed track within a relatively few minutes time.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following de scription of certain preferred embodiments thereof. taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosurev BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING VIEW?) FIG. I is a fragmentary view ofa door in substantially prone position with the hanger embodying principlis cl this invention in operating position to elevate the Limit:

Fit]. 2 is a-fragmentary illustration of the door LKIC vated and moved in position for moving the door laterally into the fixed track mounted on the building;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary end view of the hanger holding the door;

E16. 4 is a fragmentary front view, with parts broken away, this view being an enlargement of the central portion of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a' fragmentary top view of the hanger abut ting the end of the fixed track taken substantially as in dicated by the line VV of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In FIG. 2, there is shown a portion of an outdoor building generally indicated by numeral 1 having an opening therein over which a fixed track 2 extends in which a pair of trolley assemblies, generally indicated by numeral 3 and from which a door 4 is suspended, may move laterally to open or close the opening in the building. That building opening is not disclosed in the drawings since the track 2 must be substantially twice aslong as the opening is wide to accommodate in either open or closed position. The track 2 is fixed to the building in a straight line over the opening and may be of any suitable'character, usually in the form of a tubu lar member having a slot in the underside thereof through which the trolley connection to the door may extend, the upper portion of the track protecting the trolleys from the weather. The difficulty heretofore experienced was in aligning a heavy door with the fixed track 2 and moving the trolley assemblies on that door into the track.

Preferably there are two trolleys connected to the top of each door and these assemblies 3 may be ofany suit able character For example, I have shown an assembly comprising a pair of rollers 5-5 pivoted to a frame 6 from which a bolt 7 depends and may be threaded into a nut securely connected to a plate 9 in turn securely fastened to the top of the door, as seen in FIGv 4. A trolley assembly 3 is spaced inwardly from one side edge of the door the same distance as the other trolley assembly is spaced inwardly from the opposite side of the door. This maintains the door level so that it does not bind when the assemblies ride the fixed track 2.

The instant invention embodies a door hanger 20 which, as seen best in FIG. 3, is shaped generally the same as the fixed track 2, and which is preferably trans versely of the same size as the track 2. The hanger I0 is tubular, with the sides turned inwardly and upwardly as seen at II to provide a slot I2 through which the aforesaid bolt '7 of the trolley assembly 3 may extend. and the wheels of the trolley may ride the upturned poflions II of the hanger. Welded or equivalently sccurcd to the top of the hanger is a pair of spaced eyes Iii--13 spaced cquidistantly inwardly from the opposite sides of the hanger. Secured to these eyes is a flexible lifting element 14, which may be in the form of a cable, a rope, or other suitable material, this lifting element 14 being secured at opposite ends to the eyes I3 13 for as long as the element 14 may remain in useful condition. after which it may be replaced.

With the door lying on the ground and the upper end of the door propped up slightly, it is a simple expedient to thread the hanger over the trolley assemblies secured to the top of the door into the position shown in FIG. 1, the lifting element 14, of course, remaining attached to the hanger. This lifting element 14 may then be hung over a hook 15 or equivalent depending upon a line 16 from a tractor boom 17. contemporaneously with connecting the lifting element 14 with the hook 15, a stop pin 18, FIG. 4, in the general form of an inverted U is disposed through a pair of apertures in the hanger 10. One leg 19 extends well down into the hanger 10, while a shorter leg 20 extends into the frame of the trolley. A stop pin is used on each of the trolleys, preferably, as a safety factor. The legs of the stop pin extend through adjacent holes 21 in the top of the hanger 10 and as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, there are several of these holes, or a series of them at each end of the hanger to accommodate doors of varying widths. Of course, these stop pins 18-18 prevent any movement of the door relatively to the hanger during elevation and positioning of the door.

When the hanger is elevated by the boom 17 to the position seen in FIG. 2, it is laterally adjusted so as to contact the end of the fixed track 2 and be in axial alignment therewith. To steady the hanger and door in this position, a top lug 22 and a side lug 23 project beyond the hanger and rest on the top of the track 2 and the lug 23 engages the outside wall of the track 2 to help maintain proper alignment between the hanger and track. It is then a simple expedient to move the door laterally so that the trolley assemblies enter into the track 2, and the door is effectively mounted. The hanger then being removed. and if any stop element at the end of the track is utilized, it is either bent or otherwise put back into place. A similar set of brackets 22 and 23 are mounted on the opposite end of the hanger, so that the door may be entered into the track 2 from either end. Upon removal of the stop pins 18-18 when the door is slid into the track, the stop pins may be replaced in empty apertures 21, preparatory to the mounting of the next door. Since the lifting element 14 is flexible. it will automatically center itself in the hook 15 so that the door will be held level automatically.

From the foregoing, the simplicity of the instant invention, its economy, effectiveness, and the time saved by its use in mounting a door is apparent.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for lifting and positioning a laterally movable door with the trolley assemblies from which the door is suspended in a fixed track already mounted on a building over an opening therein and wherein a tractor boom is utilized in handling the door, wherein the improvement comprises:

a hanger of a cross-sectional shape the same as that of said fixed track and of a length exceeding the width of said door,

said hanger being easily engaged with the trolley assemblies of said door with the door in a substantially prone position, and

lifting means connected to said hanger and which may be connected to said boom, whereby said door may be raised to a vertical position and said hanger disposed into end-to-end abutment with said fixed track for lateral movement of the door from the hanger to the fixed track.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, including stop means removably connecting said trolley assemblies to the hanger to prevent relative movement therebetween while the door is suspended from the hanger as the hanger and door moving toward said fixed track.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein there is a plurality of locations for said stop means adjacent each end of said hanger to evenly accommodate doors of various widths.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, including a bracket on said hanger and projecting beyond the end thereof to contact said fixed track and steady the hanger when in contact with the track end.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of brackets on said hanger and extending beyond the end thereof to contact different faces of the fixed track and maintain the axial alignment of the track and hanger.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, including said hanger having apertures therein, and stop pins extending through said apertures and engaging said trolley assemblies to prevent relative movement between the door and hanger while the door is suspended from the hanger.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, including said hanger having a series of apertures therethrough adjacent each end thereof,

and inverted U-shaped stop pins to extend through an adjacent pair of apertures with one leg of each pin engaging the frame of a trolley assembly to prevent relative movement between the hanger and the door when the latter is suspended from the hanger, said series of apertures permitting selection of apertures depending upon the width of a door.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, including a bracket on the top of said hanger and extending beyond the end thereof to overlie the fixed track and maintain axial alignment of the track and hanger during movement of the door to the track.

l 1k 4! I 

1. Apparatus for lifting and positioning a laterally movable door with the trolley assemblies from which the door is suspended in a fixed track already mounted on a building over an opening therein and wherein a tractor boom is utilized in handling the door, wherein the improvement comprises: a hanger of a cross-sectional shape the same as that of said fixed track and of a length exceeding the width of said door, said hanger being easily engaged with the trolley assemblies of said door with the door in a substantially prone position, and lifting means connected to said hanger and which may be connected to said boom, whereby said door may be raised to a vertical position and said hanger disposed into end-to-end abutment with said fixed track for lateral movement of the door from the hanger to the fixed track.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, including stop means removably connecting said trolley assemblies to the hanger to prevent relative movement therebetween while the door is suspended from the hanger as the hanger and door moving toward said fixed track.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein there is a plurality of locations for said stop means adjacent each end of said hanger to evenly accommodate doors of various widths.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, including a bracket on said hanger and projecting beyond the end thereof to contact said fixed track and steady the hanger when in contact with the track end.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of brackets on said hanger and extending beyond the end thereof to contact different faces of the fixed track and maintain the axial alignment of the track and hanger.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, including said hanger having apertures therein, and stop pins extending through said apertures and engaging said trolley assemblies to prevent relative movement between the door and hanger while the door is suspended from the hanger.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, including said hanger having a series of apertures tHerethrough adjacent each end thereof, and inverted U-shaped stop pins to extend through an adjacent pair of apertures with one leg of each pin engaging the frame of a trolley assembly to prevent relative movement between the hanger and the door when the latter is suspended from the hanger, said series of apertures permitting selection of apertures depending upon the width of a door.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, including a bracket on the top of said hanger and extending beyond the end thereof to overlie the fixed track and maintain axial alignment of the track and hanger during movement of the door to the track. 